The hCG diet is a two-pronged strategy for weight loss. It uses a Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD), typically consisting of 500 calories per day, and a daily dose of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin to facilitate appetite reduction. The diet’s founder, Albert Simeons, claimed that with hCG supplementation, dieters are able to maintain 500 calories a day for up to 40 days with little or no hunger or weakness. Some of the implementations, or “protocols,” that were developed after Dr. Simeons’ time allow for 800 calories a day, or use different meal plans, but the original protocol remains the model for understanding the diet’s overall approach to weight loss.

Using HCG

Though one may use injections or drops, the original hCG protocol only used injections, which are more efficient and ideal for spot reduction. Since the hormone helps catalyze accumulated fat to make it available to be metabolized for energy, the ability to inject it directly into fat deposits means that less is needed to achieve the same effect of oral hCG. An average hCG injection is 125 IU; an average dose of oral hCG is 175 IU. Daily doses are taken for 23 or 40 days. Dieters who only need to lose up to 15 pounds choose the 23-day schedule, maintaining the 500-calorie diet for an additional three days for a total of 26 days. On the 40-day schedule, both the hCG administration and the diet are maintained for 40 days. At the end of either schedule, the injections and diet are halted for six weeks, then resumed if desired.

The VLCD Meal Plan

On Simeons’ very low calorie diet, lunch and dinner are the only meals allowed. One may drink any amount of coffee or tea with no sugar added. Saccharin or Stevia may be used as artificial sweeteners on the Simeons protocol, but there are a number of newer sweeteners mentioned in hCG forum threads that are compliant. Lunch and dinner are small four-course meals consisting of a vegetable, a piece of fruit, a piece of bread, and a 200-gram portion of meat or fish. The bread item may be a slice of Melba toast or a grissino. The fruit may be a handful of strawberries, half a grapefruit, an orange or an apple. No sugar, alcohol, oil-based condiments or dairy products are allowed. While there are a number of additional exceptions and restrictions, this is the protocol in nutshell.